RELIGION

In the late 1980s, Colombia remained an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic
country. More than 95 percent of the population had been baptized in the
Catholic Church, and the Colombian variant was widely renowned as one of
the most conservative and traditional in Latin America. Colombians were
among the most devout of Latin American Catholics. The church as an
institution was authoritarian and paternalistic and had traditionally
been associated with elite structures in the society.

The Concordat of 1973 defined relations between the Colombian
government and the Vatican. The concordat replaced the clause in the
Constitution of 1886 that had established the Catholic Church as the
official religion with one stating that "Roman Catholicism is the
religion of the great majority of Colombians." The concordat also
altered the church's position on three major issues: the mission
territories, education, and marriage. First, the mission
territories--lands with Indian populations--ceased to be enclaves where
Catholic missionaries had greater jurisdiction than the government over
schools, health, and other services; by agreement the vast network of
schools and social services was eventually to be transferred to the
government. Second, the church surrendered its right to censor public
university texts and enforce the use of the Catholic catechism in public
schools. Under the new concordat, the church retained the right to run
only its own schools and universities, and even these had to follow
government guidelines. Finally, Colombians were allowed to contract
civil marriages without abjuring the Catholic faith. The civil validity
of church weddings was also recognized, although all marriages were also
to be recorded on the civil registry. Catholic marriages, however, could
only be dissolved through arbitration in a church court.

Despite these changes, the tenacity of custom and the church's
traditional position as a moral and social arbiter ensured its continued
strong presence in national life. The parish church still was recognized
as the center of nearly every community, and the local priest was often
the major figure of authority and leadership. Moreover, most priests
were native Colombians, in sharp contrast to the dependence on foreign
clergy generally prevalent in Latin America. Approximately 95 percent of
diocesan priests and 65 percent of priests belonging to religious orders
were Colombians. Since independence, all but four bishops have been
Colombian.

In comparison with Catholicism, other religions continued to play a
small role in the 1980s. The Protestant population numbered roughly
200,000; Jews were far less numerous, having only a few small
congregations in larger cities. In the past, restrictive immigration
policy kept most non-Catholics from entering the country. Although
Protestant missionaries had been officially allowed to proselytize since
the 1930s, they often met with opposition from members of the Catholic
clergy and laity. NonCatholics are guaranteed freedom of worship under
the Constitution, however.

Few of the indigenous religions encountered by the Spaniards
survived. In the 1980s, the Indians of the highlands were at least
nominally Catholic, and only a few tribes in the most isolated regions
continued in their traditional beliefs. The nation's black population
also was nominally Catholic, although vestiges of African religion and
beliefs survived in some communities. The black population on Isla de
San Andrés and Isla de Providencia was Protestant, however, having
originally been colonized by Britain.